Chapter 25: Chapter 25

“You coming to live with us”, Axel repeated in the face of my silence, one that, as he could deduce with just one glance, only preceded the explosion, which I didn’t delay any longer.

“No way am I going to live with you,” I said when I noticed that Axel had deduced that my silence was by no means a quiet acceptance of what he was saying.

“I’m not asking you, Sussan,” Axel said with that new air of a threatening father that he had now adopted, which was far from the sweet and conciliatory man who had entered my room, asking for permission to do so.

I don’t know what made me angrier. His hypocrisy in pretending to be a concerned father or that new attitude of his as a superior and bossy man, who could do whatever he pleased with me despite the seventeen-year gap during which he was absent. That should be clear to him.

“I am not your family, and you can’t just come like this, after all this time, thinking you can give me orders about where and with whom I should live,” I said, knowing that my words, instead of intimidating him as they used to with Lia, would only annoy him even more. “I will never live with you in my life.”

I noticed that, although my words were spoken with some of the same anger that had managed to unsettle him a bit in the morning, Axel now didn’t seem willing to be scared by a seventeen-year-old girl.

The voice in my head didn’t take long to react.

“Hey, you need to calm down. Don’t you realize that it’s in our best interest to live with him, and that now is when we need Ethan and Liam the most?”

“I’m telling you again, Sussan, I wasn’t asking you.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, clenching my fists and jaw. “Why now and not seventeen years ago?”

Axel fixed his clear eyes on mine, and despite still being surrounded by that aura of superiority and intimidation, I could also see a glimmer of compassion in his gaze.

“Because you’re turning eighteen soon, Sussan,” he said with a slightly more cordial voice. “I’ve been away from your life for far too long.”

The words swirled in my mind but refused to come to my lips. That glimmer of sincerity, of some humility despite the tenacity that surrounded him, was disarming me. Although I hadn’t forgiven him and felt incapable of doing so, there was something that prevented me from responding to him the way I wanted to. It was something in his tone of voice, along with his gaze, that told me, even shouted at me louder than that strange voice that had now come to my mind, that Axel regretted what he had done and said it sincerely.

“I saw what happened to you when you approached the hall this morning,” Axel said with the same sweet tone in his voice. “That, along with the state of your room and your few belongings, is what gives me reason to take you to live with me.”

I had to close my eyes to stop seeing him because his gaze was lacerating my soul forcefully. Despite that, his voice, the tone he used with me, continued to resonate in my ears and weaken me. Not only did he have that tone that adults use when they won’t listen to a teenager’s reasoning, but he treated me as if I were a helpless little girl, incapable of taking care of myself and in urgent need of him. Now he turned out to be the savior in my life, and the best thing I could do was accept him and welcome him with open arms.

“I’ll come tomorrow, early, to pick you up. I hope you’re ready.”

I didn’t know what to say, and I didn’t understand why, even though my head was buzzing with thoughts, no words were able to come down to my mouth and be expelled from my lips. Finally, I said something.

“Okay, Axel.”

Why had those words come out of my mouth?

That wasn’t what I wanted to say. When I saw him turn around, something else wanted to come out of my lips.

“Wait. There’s something else,” I said. Axel turned around, completely surprised, as if he hadn’t expected me to say anything. “I’ll do things the way you want them to be done, but I want you to know that in all this time, I’ve never needed you, and now even less. I can take care of myself. I don’t need you. Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t forget,” Axel replied in a completely neutral tone, in which I sensed no lies but also no honesty.

He closed the door to my room, and for some reason, at that moment, I felt that it wasn’t the only door that had closed.

The next day, I was ready in ten minutes, and Axel arrived as promised.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked as he entered my room.

I nodded and mumbled something unintelligible. While my face had fully healed, the same couldn’t be said for my ankle, which protested when I hurriedly got up.

As we were about to leave the house, we passed through the living room, and I could see Dub sitting in front of the sofa, already drunk and unconcerned about what was happening around him. However, it wasn’t the same for Lia, who, despite pacing between the living room and the kitchen, trying not to look at Axel, couldn’t hide the fact that her eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. I would have liked to make a joke about it because even a blind person would have noticed that Axel meant something more than indifference to Lia, despite the seventeen years that had passed.

“Take care, Sussan,” Lia said when she saw that I was leaving, reaching out her hand to touch my face.

I instinctively recoiled. It was a habit. I hadn’t trusted her in seventeen years, and I wouldn’t in that last second.

“Do you realize that?” that strange voice in my mind said. “You did well to step back because her display of affection wasn’t meant for you, but to impress him.”

For the first and only time, I felt relieved to hear that voice because it was right. It became evident that Lia’s gesture was not meant to comfort me or show me her love but to present herself as a redeemed mother, someone who now cares for her daughter, and the intended recipient of that gesture was none other than Axel.

“I’ll wait for you outside,” I said when I had the feeling that Axel would be delayed a few minutes to talk to Lia.

Once outside the house, I felt complete, especially when my gaze turned to the forest, where I saw so much peace and harmony that I would have wanted to immerse myself there and never have to leave again. The breeze swayed the treetops, and I could hear the distant murmur of birds living among the branches. It was so tranquil.

Axel didn’t take long to come out, and I could see that despite his mask of perpetual indifference, he looked uncomfortable.

“Did you see something funny?” he asked when our gazes met.

“You look uncomfortable,” I replied as I turned my back to him. I was impressed to see that, despite the time that had separated us, he still had the same gestures as me.

“You look uncomfortable too,” he responded.

His words filled me with anger. Of course, I was uncomfortable; it was natural and obvious. What did they expect when we reunited after seventeen years of him abandoning me? I resisted the temptation to turn around and tell him to his face, but only because it would make the moment even more uncomfortable.

I hadn’t noticed Axel’s car until he stepped forward to open the door for me. It was a luxurious car, a large and comfortable sedan with leather seats. I had never been in a car like that before. Upon entering, I realized that Axel must be doing quite well, even better than that, he must have a lot of money.

He drove to the restaurant where I worked, and we got out to have breakfast.

At that time of day, Jennifer was the only waitress on duty, and she approached our table to take our order.

“I’ll be right back. I’m going to the bathroom,” Axel said before sitting down.

“Your face is healed, how did you do it?”

I looked up and remembered the miracle I had witnessed in front of the bathroom mirror myself.

“It’s just a lot of makeup,” I replied.

I noticed Jennifer following Axel with her gaze.

“And who is he?”

“He’s the man I haven’t seen in seventeen years.”

“Is that him? I thought Dub was your father.”

Although I was surprised that Jennifer had thought that, I soon realized that I hadn’t fully adjusted to life in a small town, where it was logical for every family to know each other and have references about who lived with whom.

“I don’t actually have a father,” I said. “There’s Dub and the man you just saw.”

“Anyway, it seems like the man you haven’t seen in seventeen years has a lot of money. Maybe you can benefit from him.”

I shrugged because the truth was I didn’t expect that from Axel. I had taken care of myself for seventeen years and had never considered the idea of turning to whoever my father was to ask for money, and that wasn’t going to change now or ever. The only person I had truly depended on and expected something from was my grandmother, but now that she was gone, I knew I was alone in life, and that wasn’t going to change just because Axel had shown up in my room.

Axel returned and sat down. The situation became uncomfortable again. That silence was piercing through us, which only annoyed me more.

“Do you have any other children?” I asked, knowing that the words had escaped me without control.

“A daughter,” he replied, with his mask of indifference. “She’s two years younger than you.”

Two years, I thought. That was the time it took him to forget about my existence and conceive another daughter, with another woman, in another house. How lovely.

“And a wife,” I said, as an affirmation, not a question, because he had already told me that the night before.

“And a wife,” Axel repeated, “but that doesn’t mean I didn’t love Lia…”

I raised my hand like a referee stopping a play.

“I’m not interested in your relationship with Lia. Spare me that.”

“It was a brief affair,” Axel said, ignoring my warning. “Now I think that relationship was a mistake, although the outcome would have been a blessing.”

I said nothing and looked away. I didn’t care whether he considered his relationship with Melissa a mistake or not. What infuriated me was the fact that he called me a blessing, one he chose to abandon seventeen years ago. This time I couldn’t hold back.

“So you have a habit of abandoning your blessings,” I said, facing his gaze. “You cast them aside in your life and then dedicate yourself only to throwing money at them.”

“I wouldn’t call it abandonment,” Axel said with pursed lips.

I don’t know what would have happened if we hadn’t been interrupted by Jennifer at that moment, who approached us with her notepad in hand.

“Do you know what you’re going to order?”

“I just want a Coca-Cola,” I said.

“And I’ll just have sparkling water for now,” Axel replied. “We need some more time to look over the menu.”

As Jennifer turned around, I recognized the sound of Aly’s car engine. I didn’t turn and waited until I saw her come in. Our gazes met, and I could see the astonishment in her eyes. I didn’t know if she was surprised by the miracle that had taken effect on my face or by the man sitting with me at the table.

“I had what you could call an arranged marriage,” Axel said just as Aly seemed about to approach and greet me. “I was with Lia for a short time before meeting my fiancée. And she, well, she’s not very friendly towards Lia.”

My attention returned to Axel, and I noticed Aly moving away. There would be time for explanations later.

“I understand,” I said. “I’m sure your wife didn’t particularly like the mother of your first child.”

“She tries to overlook it, but you being my firstborn has a very special meaning where I come from.”

“Well, where I come from, they call me a mistake,” I said, not hiding the sarcasm in my tone.

Jennifer approached again, and this time I asked her for a slice of apple pie. Axel ordered the same for himself, and I noticed he had noticed Aly, who was sitting at the next table.

“Is the girl at the other table your friend?” Axel whispered.

I nodded. I didn’t want Aly to feel uncomfortable and realize that we were talking about her, but I had to add that she was the first friend I made since I arrived in town. Axel glanced at Aly again.

“Are you finally going to tell me what happened to your face, Sussan?” Axel asked, with that tone of voice that was a mix of friendly and tyrannical that only he could master.

I shrugged and took a sip of my drink.

“That doesn’t matter anymore. As you can see, I’m completely healed now.”

I could see in Axel’s gaze that he wasn’t surprised by my sudden recovery. In fact, for a moment, it seemed like something he had expected.

“Alright, I’ll let it go. But you’ll have to tell me what happened to your ankle.”